Advocacy

We encourage parents to register to testify at the next Board of Education meeting, Thursday, May 25, at 4 pm.

Those who wish to testify must register in advance at this website (click on "Register to Speak"). Registration opens at 4 pm on Monday, May 22, and spots fill quickly, so please bookmark the time.
Testimony may be given in person or online.
For those who cannot testify at the meeting, it is possible to submit written testimony at any time at the same link.
For those who are accepted to testify at the meeting, you may join a Zoom meeting at 7:30 pm Tuesday, May 23, to confer about testimony in advance. Click here to join.
Please see the talking points below or the letter hand-delivered to Dr. Watlington's office last Friday for ideas about what to say.

Here are other ways to advocate:

Learn about the proposed changes and decide for yourself.
Thank you to all 300+ of you for attending the Rally on May 11th and to Kristen Graham for her article in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Send an email to SDP, Board of Education, and city leaders. Use the letter below or write your own. We urge everyone to be respectful and stick to the issues.

Write an op-ed. For tips and media contacts, email Sara Goldrick-Rab at [email protected].

Send us your feedback about the changes, to be shared with SDP officials. Currently, with almost 400 responses, this survey shows 87.5 percent opposition and only 2% support for the changes.

Get on a mailing list for more details and updates on advocacy efforts.

READ THE ARTICLE

Click to print or share the flyer

Did you know?

The planned schedules for 5th and 8th graders do not comply with the Board of Education's own Goals and Guardrails. Specifically:

Enriching & Well-Rounded School Experiences

Guardrail 2: Every student will have a well-rounded education with co-curricular opportunities, including arts and athletics, integrated into the school experience.
Indicator 2.1: The percentage of K-8 students enrolled in visual or performing arts courses at each school will grow from 89.9% in August 2020 to 100.0% by August 2026.
- Source: See Page 3, Guardrail 2, Indicator 2.1

Why is Masterman going in the opposite direction of what the SDP & Board of Education require as non-negotiable for every school and student?

Learn about Goals and Guardrails here.

Sample Letter

Dear leaders and friends of the School District of Philadelphia,

I am writing on behalf of the students of Masterman for your help to STOP cuts to their learning opportunities. Do the Board of Education's Goals and Guardrails not apply to Masterman?

According to the proposed plan for 2023–2024 (more information here):

Fifth Graders will lose access to rostered Digital Literacy, Art, and Music.
Sixth Graders will lose access to rostered Gym and Music.
Seventh Graders will lose access to rostered Gym and Digital Literacy.
Eighth Graders will lose access to rostered Digital Literacy, Art, and Music.
High school students will lose access to two years of rostered Gym.
High school students will lose access to a continuous World Language path.
ALL middle school students will lose 99 minutes of instruction per week, which translates to 2.1 weeks a year.
ALL students will have fewer athletic opportunities due to the loss of a PE teacher.

These cuts are not acceptable and cannot be justified¸ especially in a year with no cuts to our school budget. They disregard what educators know about the value of well-rounded learning, and they impact the mental health of students. The School District’s own Goals and Guardrails state that students must be rostered to visual or performing arts in every grade K-8. The new schedule change does not comply with that requirement.

Please help us STOP the Schedule Change.

✅ Students must continue to be rostered for art, music, and gym every year.
✅ Advisory is no substitute for rostered classes.
✅ Limited availability lunch time enrichment is no substitute for a rostered art or music class.

All kids need art. All kids need music. All kids need gym. Their mental health matters.

Yours respectfully,

Whom to Contact

Additional Information & Talking Points

Exposure vs. Deeper Understanding

Masterman and School District Administration assert that the new schedule creates time for a “deeper understanding” of art, music, gym and digital literacy. However the traditional scheduling of Middle School “Specials” creates consistent exposure and appreciation across ALL FOUR YEARS. This consistent exposure will inspire some students to look for a “deeper understanding” in the next phase of their education. But it’s of vital importance that our kids get those consistent building blocks every year in Middle School.

Two years with more gym does not combat the issues of two years with NO GYM.
One year with 2/3 Music classes a week is inferior to consistent yearly exposure.
One year with 2/3 Digital Literacy classes a week is inferior to consistent yearly exposure.
Two years with 2/3 Art classes a week is inferior to consistent yearly exposure.
Losing all rostered Health curriculum is not acceptable.

Our fifth graders are introduced to the “specials” in their first year, and that creates familiarity and understanding that matures over time and spawns their interest in extracurricular enrichment: choir, art clubs, the musical and athletic teams.

Rostered Curriculum vs. Extracurricular Time

Extracurricular time is not equal to rostered curriculum-based class time, it is a complement to it.

Extracurricular time:

Accommodates only a limited number of students.
Competes with other student needs – socialization, homework time, test and classwork makeup.
Doesn’t feature guaranteed, planned curriculum-based instruction.
Is not equitable, i.e., if 5th grade students who require less math instruction can be pulled out for music during a rostered math class, but the flipside is that students who require additional math time will be punished by their inability to attend.

Finding Acceptable Solutions

The importance of a consistently well-rounded social-emotional and arts-balanced education cannot be overstated. Our Middle School kids need music, art, gym, health and digital literacy EVERY YEAR. If that cannot be accomplished with an A/B schedule then the A/B schedule is the problem.

Arts education facilitates the exact kind of creative problem solving we need, for example, to make the schedule more efficient AND not deprive our students of a pivotal piece of the historically successful Masterman education.

Arts & music education is deeply supportive of Masterman’s educational mission.
Here are recent articles from the NYT and NPR that address the importance of Music and Art education.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/04/03/1167494088/your-brain-on-art-music-dance-poetry?fbclid=IwAR3n4GNNYIoy570E9l72evI4cZY2E9TKsR0vxNHIdc4HFczUzANv04UPauE

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/arts/design/arts-education-necessary.html

Recent rigorous studies show the following benefits of rostering these classes for all students:

Improved student behavior (partly via enhanced socio-emotional skills and cognitive processing) and reduced discipline problems
Improved test scores, including in math
The science also suggests that art and music education are equity-enhancing, affecting marginalized students the most.

While not conclusive, there is also some initial evidence suggesting that art and music are helpful at addressing the pandemic’s aftermath and current mental health crisis. That’s why it is a strategy advanced by Secretary of Education Cardona. Education chief says music can rebuild connections to school | AP News

Relevant impact studies:
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/02/12/new-evidence-of-the-benefits-of-arts-education/

An RCT study showing few weeks of music lessons enhance audio-visual temporal processing
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2211949317300558

The effect of music on accuracy in the Stroop test - Kim - 2022 - Psychology in the Schools - Wiley Online Library
Recent pandemic evidence:

Music education may make students more hopeful about their futures | EdSource

Parent Comments

Subjects such as art, music, and physical education have always been vital parts of my daughter’s education. The health class curriculum is a key component to her safety and well-being. Having these additional outlets allows her to be even more present for core curriculum courses. These courses support a quality education. I’m uncomfortable having her at a school without these classes consistently in her roster.
These cuts are unacceptable in any district school. We take pride in raising our children in this globally renowned metropolis and expect much higher standards for our education system. Our children should all be receiving a deep, intellectually and culturally stimulating education, which is at our fingertips here in Philadelphia. Our priorities must reflect the bright future we want for our children and future generations.
Eliminating arts and music classes to make room for remedial math and ELA suggests that [leadership is not interested in maintaining Masterman as a magnet school].
I appreciate the SAC and HSA work. I am upset by the changes, disappointed for my son [...] Efforts to level inequities should be winning strategies for all, and not result in mediocrity on any level.
Our family is an incoming 5th grade family [and] this will directly impact our student next year and furthermore the well-rounded education we expected at Masterman was a primary reason for entering the school selection process in the first place.